REFUGIO

When given the program, in which we had to design a building meant to house both a refugee cohousing living community and an extension of the WestSide Bazaar in Buffalo, I decided I wanted to utilize the concept of a floating box in which the private living units “float” above the public marketplace. This later led to an overall desire to emphasize a sort of continuous space in which multiple levels of communal space possess a physical and visual connection with one another. For the Bazaar, this translated into a large, subterranean space in which a series of ramps lined with shops spiral down to the lowest market level, allowing for visitors to both be visible to one another from within as well as be visible to passersby on the street level. Within the living units this idea presents itself as four different living units that vary in privacy/individuality. The most individual unit, for example, possesses four separate rooms with a vertically connected communal space. The most communal unit is designed to allow all four bedrooms to open up and become three, two, and even one large room to accommodate for families and different living conditions. Finally, the idea of the floating box is emphasized by a building envelope that is meant to showcase a sort of fabric, perforated art installation representing different refugees that both adds privacy to the residents (hiding windows) and brings the refugee aspect of this design to the forefront.